For as tight-knit of a community as the Wabash student body is, it is easy to forget that there are innumerably more Wabash men that have passed under the arch and into the world beyond Crawfordsville. Composing this body of Wabash men out in the world is the National Association of Wabash Men (NAWM), the alumni association of Wabash College. With the express goal of furthering the mission of the College, the NAWM may fly under the radar for some students. However, the work done by the association is indispensable, laboring tirelessly to stay engaged with current students and the changing needs of the College.

At the helm of both the NAWM and its board of directors is Tony Unfried ’03. Halfway through his two-year term as President of the NAWM, Unfried seeks to give the College help wherever help is needed, truly embodying the Wabash man as one that leads effectively. Unfried brings a background in business leadership, having started over 10 businesses, as well as prior leadership in the Wabash community, serving on the board of Center for Innovation, Business, and Entrepreneurship (CIBE) at its founding, president of the Lambda Chi Alpha alumni association and President of the Wabash Club of Indianapolis. Through all of his experience in his career and beyond, Unfried feels well equipped to lead an organization like the NAWM.

“Sometimes you learn more from your failures than you do your successes,” said Unfried. “Everybody figures out their own leadership style, and everybody wants to be led differently. Once you figure that out, that translates into a board leadership position.”

Unfried identified three pillars of the NAWM’s work, emphasizing that the association does much more behind the scenes than many realize. The goals are to strengthen current fraternities, strengthen regional alumni groups and to increase the visibility of the NAWM as a whole. Unfried dedicates himself to all three goals, but emphasized that the latter may be the key to increasing engagement across the board.

“How can we increase that visibility and be more than just the board that has an event every other year for the Hall of Fame and that board that has an event at Homecoming that gives some awards?” said Unfried. “That’s a very important part of what we do, but it’s probably only about half of what we do.”

One of the most important contacts Unfried and the NAWM have at Wabash is Director of Alumni & Affinity Group Engagement Ron Dostal ’92, who also serves as one of the representatives of the College administration on the NAWM’s board of directors. Dostal spoke to some of the goals that he shares with the NAWM at large, namely recruiting more alumni to assist with regional engagement.

“We’re trying to identify more alumni volunteers who can help with some of our regional engagement efforts so they don’t have to come back to campus to have a Wabash experience,” said Dostal. “If there’s a critical mass of Wabash guys in Denver, [there’s] a chance for them to get together and maybe watch the Monon Bell game, or maybe get together a couple of other times during the year as well.”

Overall, while the NAWM holds events for alumni to stay connected to their alma mater, the focus is still very much on the shared community in Crawfordsville, which current students are the most directly tied to. As a result, everyone in the NAWM wants to connect with students and is concerned with improving the student experience. As the student representative on the NAWM board, Ayden Salpietra ’27 is one of the key liaisons between the board and the student body, using his voice in their three yearly meetings to advocate for student interests.

“I’m the only student in those meetings, and it’s been really cool just to talk to those guys and tell them what’s going on on campus,” said Salpietra. “In the most recent meeting, I talked a lot about inclusivity and brotherhood on campus and how we can build that to be stronger.”

With the youngest perspective behind the scenes of the NAWM, Salpietra has fresh eyes to see how the collaboration within the association and its board embody the fraternal spirit of Wabash.

“Even though they see each other three times a year, they’re still a very cohesive group,” said Salpietra. “It just speaks to the Wabash brotherhood as a whole. You could have graduated in 1983 and another guy could graduate in 2012, and you guys are still on the same page.”

What unites these alumni that volunteer their time and energy to the NAWM is a desire to give the gift of service to the current students, not expecting anything in return.

“We don’t owe anything back to the alumni or the current students, but we give back because that’s our connection,” said Unfried. “That’s what we want to do and offer.”

The NAWM is much greater than just the few directors that spearhead engagement campaigns: the NAWM is the whole body of living alumni that have passed through these halls. What Unfried urges current students to do is take advantage of this larger brotherhood before graduation, when the network is perhaps the most accessible.

“Understand that as soon as you graduate, you become part of the Wabash mafia,” said Unfried. “When you come in as a freshman, there’s someone on this campus that’s already done what you’re trying to do and been through what you are going through. Now you’ve gone from ‘how do I pass that chemistry test?’ to ‘how do I figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life?’ And that’s where you find those folks that have done it before or have the experience to figure it out.”

The work done by Dostal, Unfried, Salpietra and the entire NAWM is all oriented towards improving the College, both for its continued success and for the sake of current students. By necessity, the alumni body will always be larger than the current student body. By recognizing and engaging with the good work of the NAWM, one can tap into the broader brotherhood that lasts long after commencement — because it’s not four years, it’s for life.